


The Golden Horde

by Persnikitty



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caricatures, Femdom, Imprisonment, Multi, Tropes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-09 18:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17411681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persnikitty/pseuds/Persnikitty
Summary: Naruto is caught in a web of circumstance as his worst enemies manipulate his power.  In response, he creates the Golden Horde.





	1. Bad Apples Have To Fall Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi.

Haruno Sakura was not born to be Uzumaki Naruto's personal torturer; it was something she became through a series of partially related circumstances. Despite her rather heavy handed treatment and brutal physical abuse of her blonde team mate, she was not intrinsically a bad person.

Prior to entering Konoha's Shinobi Academy, her life was one of torment from the other children who would harshly ridicule her wide forehead, bubblegum pink hair and her hitching stutter when their words became too much and she would break down in body wracking tears. For years she struggled to change their view of her with abysmal results, until a very pretty blonde girl chose to become her friend.

Sakura would have eventually grown up to be a very self-conscious, shy, introverted bookworm, most probably a typical soft-spoken librarian and a much milder version of her mother. She would have been single, due to personal loathing, unless she was misfortunate enough to be wed to an abusive and dominating husband.

The gender of said husband was up for dibs, as by then, Sakura would have been hungry for anything to fill her life, even if meant a dog and peanut butter. Sadder than even that distorted reality, she already had her sights on an impossible mate, in the form of an Uchiha scion. Even there though, she was beginning to develop androgyny, confusing female tomboy roughness and hazing as a male-only attribute. Naturally, Uchiha was exempt, being of noble blood, not that Sakura had any hope in that department either.

But then she met Ino. Unbeknownst to Sakura, Ino had read in one of her mom's womanly improvement magazines that female groups of friends always include the super pretty one and the smart but ugly one. While Sakura wasn't necessarily ugly, at best cute, Ino figured that with that broad forehead, she was most likely smart.

Ino's first order of business was the beat down Sakura's tormentors, meaning Ami and her coterie, and then began the task of convincing Sakura that she was worthy of Ino's friendship, which was no easy feat. The years of verbal abuse and debasement had left a five-year old girl with a very negative body image, low self-esteem and a sense of personal loathing.

Things quickly turned around in Sakura's life, since Ino was the leader of the Cool Crowd and was very protective of her Personal Projects, namely Sakura. It was Ino who imparted one of her secrets to Sakura: when attacked, give your attackers another target. That's when she met a blond boy in tattered clothes, dirty hair and a grime covered face picking through the Haruno trash bins.

A group of her detractors, led by Ami, being Ino's rival for the Cool Crowd leadership and having a bone to pick with Sakura after Ino's intervention, had found where Sakura lived and were waiting to mess her up. To escape their beating and harassment, having been spotted outside of her sanctuary, she pointed instead to the blond street urchin and shouted at him, drawing the group's attention to the boy. He looked up with a fearful, startled expression, his bright blue eyes wide, and turned to run when Ami tackled him to the ground.

Some time during the beating, Sakura got pulled into Ami's group to help restrain and hurt the boy. Ami had stated that she wasn't going to let up until the boy begged for mercy, but he stayed unnaturally silent during the entire affair except for the occasional grunt when his damaged chest would get kicked.

About an hour later, Ami's group grew tired, hungry and left, telling the silently bleeding boy that he better be there when they get back, or he would regret it the next time they met. Ami even gave Sakura a smile as she left. "You're alright in my books. Keep our punching bag here until we rest up a bit. We'll keep going until he apologizes for bruising our fists and feet." That level of acceptance, not to mention the strange thrill at trying to make someone suffer like she had, was her true turning point: the bullied became the bully.

Despite the severity of his wounds, when Sakura turned back to the alley, the boy had vanished. Ino found she had work to do once class resumed, since Ami thought that Sakura had been slacking: the blond punching bag escaped under her watch, after all. Afterwards, Sakura had asked her mother about the blond beggar child with lines on his cheeks. This culmination was the First Circumstance.

The Second Circumstance emerged after the all-female Cool Crowd would meet in the park by the Yamanaka Flower Shop to discuss clothes, new diets, local gossip and boys. During those times, Sakura came to enjoy the positive attention as the other girls, even Ino, would hang on her every word.

While Ino's dad was on the Village Council, he was part of the Shinobi faction made up of clan leaders and military organization heads. Sakura's mom, however, was part of the Allied Mothers Force, which also included the Yamanaka matriarch. Though skilled at taijutsu, often practiced on her easy-going and very forgiving husband before his death, Mebuki's primary strength was her position as Head Librarian with oversight of the public library branches, Shinobi Academy Library, Hospital Library, and the Civilian Academy Libraries. In addition, she chaired the Civilian Textbook Selection Committee.

In short, Haruno Mebuki not only shaped what students were taught, but also had considerable access to the juiciest gossip, even above that of the Mercantile Guild, and was rather loose tongued when it came to her favorite and only child. This was especially true when she was deep in her cups and pumped for information.

Sakura could command attention in everything but boys. That was Ino's forte as she had easy access to males their age, especially if they were from Shinobi clans or families due to her father's Council position and his status as member of the famous Ino-Shika-Chou team. But Sakura had met one boy, the one beaten behind her house earlier in the year.

She hadn't actually seen him again, but finally was able to fit a name to the face. That boy was Uzumaki Naruto, a name that made her mother's mouth twist in distaste. Very little was known of him and even less spoken, but of late he was a celebrity of sorts, though all accounts were very confusing.

In truth, not much was known of his lineage by the time of Sakura's education, since the Elder Haruno had worked hard to purge the Uzumaki name from taught material, even if Mito and Kushina had been married to Konoha's Fire Shadows. It was a complicated thing, being a mix of envy at their upper-tier marriages, shame with regards to Uzushiogakure's demise despite being Konoha's savior multipe times, as their symbol was on the back of every shinobi standard-issued jacket, and that line having the misfortune of both carrying Kyuubi and being within her daughter's age group.

Some of her best friends, notwithstanding her punching bag called Kizashi, had all perished in the aftermath of Kyuubi's attack. She had an axe to grind, and Naruto was her stone.

Back to current events though, the story which Sakura had heard from her mother was something out of a novel or play. It was one of many flavors which had been floating around the political arenas. Like all stories though, the details change from speaker to listener.

A few weeks prior, the Cloud Ambassador had kidnapped Hyuuga Hiashi's eldest daughter, Hinata. It was done on the same day as the treaty signing ceremony for a cease-fire, signaling an end to hostilities in the five-year old secret war following Kyuubi's arrival, during the late-night festivities. By the time the Hyuugas found them, five-year old Hinata was asleep in one of the northern training grounds, heavily sedated but alive and whole. The Ambassador was found twenty yards away, missing his right leg below the knee.

He reportedly sneered at them, claimed Diplomatic Immunity, demanded hospital care and a replacement leg from the Hyuuga family, promising revenge on the little blond boy with red eyes. His injuries proved to be more extensive than originally thought and he died from internal and external bleeding before the rescue party reached the hospital.

Though Cloud blamed the Hyuugas for the Ambassador's death, which ultimately would lead to Hyuuga Hizashi's martyrdom, rumor was the real killer was the demon child, Uzumaki Naruto. There had been late-night, torch-lit hunts for the boy for causing pain to the Hyuuga Clan through the death of Hyuuga Hiashi's younger twin brother.

In truth, Hiashi had used the Village Scapegoat in an attempt to shield his own hands with regards to the Kumo Ambassador, as he was the one who removed the knee with an overpowered Juuken kick. In his own mind, however, Uzumaki was to blame when the butcher's bill came and would be forever against the boy. This was not known to Sakura.

So she casually mentioned to Ami, and the rest of the group, that she had actually met the infamous Naruto several times. He would come to her house, stand in the alley, and beg her for dates. When the others showed disbelief, she simply asked Ami what the blond boy had been doing in Sakura's alley on the day that Ami had curbstomped him.

When the girls compared stories and descriptions and it was shown that the blond boy seen that day in Sakura's alley was indeed the infamous Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura had used her new-found popularity and deftly took Ami's position as Ino's Vice President. Ami had been rather passive and subdued through it all, recalling not just the sounds, but also the vibrations felt through her feet and hands as his bones were broken. That memory had long troubled Ami, as she had never been that physically violent before, which had scared her. Even months past, she could not internally explain the rage she had felt.

Sakura, not knowing Ami's reflection and reformation, then used skills learned from her mother's Council gossip sessions and made a bid for the Presidency, stating she always refused and would punish him for even thinking of cutting in on Uchiha Sasuke's territory, personally turning the conversation to their new favorite topic: the youngest son of the Uchiha clan head.

Ino forgave the attempted coup at her position and the implication that her future husband was actually seeing Sakura, granting her Project leniency. That day, the Cool Crowd was disbanded, and the Official Uchiha Sasuke Fan Club was born.

Whenever Sakura's Sasuke-clout would wane, she would mention Naruto tossing rocks at her bedroom window, begging for denied dates, even serenading her once in a manner which made alley cats run, all in an attempt to get between her and Sasuke. None of it was true, but that didn't matter since none of it could be refuted or verified.

She had repeated those lies often enough that she came to believe them to be true, which also fueled her androgyny: his imagined unwelcome advances. Naruto did know of Sakura's name, face and unique hair color, and avoided her and her block at all costs. He didn't remember much of that beating, which might have been the multiple concussions, but he did recall the pain and the pink hair. In a sea of black, brown and blond, her genetic coloration stood out: he never forgot that particular association.

The Third Circumstance, which cemented Haruno Sakura's treatment of Uzumaki Naruto in the future, was her mother, Mebuki. Sakura quickly learned to read her mother's moods, and one of the most prevalent was anger and resentment whenever Sakura would mention the blond street rat, or when Council business would touch on the boy. So Sakura surmised that the Uzumaki had caused her mother pain at some point in the past, and was somehow using that memory to hurt her. No one hurt Sakura's mother and got away with it, nobody!

This theory was born out whenever Sakura would ask about her father, which she rarely did. All she knew was that he was Shinobi, was dead, had died defending the village five years ago, and fought alongside the Fourth Hokage. He was even listed on the Memorial Stone, and all of that was a very touchy subject, even now. She didn't even know his name. Her mother had always referred to him as Tou-sama, since despite Kizashi's treatment by Mebuki, she had fervently loved him in her own way.

Somehow, that Naruto boy had something to do with it. Sakura took it as her personal mission to find out what that was and to punish him for hurting her family and making her mother cry. When she voiced such, she got the warmest smile she had ever received from her mother. Sakura was so swept up, she failed to notice the calculating glint in her mother's eye.

A week later, Mebuki met Sakura at home and gave her the best news ever: she was enrolled in the Shinobi Academy and not only would she start next month, but would be in the same class as Uchiha Sasuke. Not just in the same grade or even the same peer group, but the actual classroom, maybe even being on the same aisle or possible the chair to his left, closest to his heart. Given that classes stuck together, this was four years of opportunities for social climbing.

Sakura had promptly fainted at the possible implications. When she awoke, her mother informed her that it took a lot of string pulling to land her in that particular class, since it was mostly filled with not only kids from true shinobi families, but also the main heirs to all the clans on the Shinobi Council. Sakura would be one of a very select few which were from civilian families, as Mebuki was retired. But her little girl was worth it, not to mention it would make it easier to fulfill her personal mission of purging the Uzumaki name from Konoha.

Not matter how deep in her cups she became, she never spoke of the sexual acts needed for this academic placement. There had been many, given that she was a widow, in her young 30's and needed favors. Though Mebuki chaired the Civilian Textbook Selection Committee, she couldn't place her child in specific classes unless she spread her knees and appeased. This hatred was taught to her daughter.

Sakura's eyes had gleamed at the thought of not only being physically closer to Sasuke-kun, but also being able to avenge their family's loss. The cost of this education she would never truly know, despite the frequent visits by a number of men to her home.

Mebuki made Sakura swear never to speak of their arrangements; knowing how to keep secrets was crucial to being a good shinobi, after all. She also dangled the carrot that if Sakura came across any information on Uzumaki Naruto or could describe anything verifiably done to him or by him, she might be able to secure Sakura extra lessons, private tutors, class credits and advanced materials to improve her odds at being the kind of kunoichi to catch Sasuke's eye and gain his hand.

A strong Uchiha man would need a strong and capable woman, and if Sakura was willing to keep her dear mother informed, she would help Sakura _be_ that woman. If the sex had been better, well, there was a reason as towards why Mebuki was becoming an information broker. There were simply too many 'pump and go' Shinobi, and not enough other favors to cash in for her daughter's future.

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Uchiha Sasuke was, quite simply, a _complicated_ person. He was a slave to his emotions but deathly afraid of being used by them. Strength was respected, but taken as a personal insult if another was stronger. There was a fear of being alone but even greater fear of loved ones being used as bargaining chips or butchered outright.

He was one of many, within his clan of extended family. Within an hour, he was by himself.

Sasuke wasn't always a complete bastard. He used to laugh and play, he had fellow Uchiha friends, mostly cousins, and cherished them. He did struggle for his father's attention and was hip-deep in a sibling rivalry with his much older brother, Itachi, although rivalry was too strong a word given how one-sided all of their contests were.

Itachi was a believer in Life Lessons and would often use his younger brother for practical applications. In the beginning, this was stress relief. It evolved into something different.

Whenever Sasuke scored a bullseye during shuriken practice, Itachi would blur into being some twenty yards behind him with his back turned, and would not only knock out Sasuke's weapon but would create the letter L, for Loser, in the center of the target, with toothpicks. This was also done for kunai practice.

For Taijutsu kata drills, the mirrored L-shaped welt (so Sasuke would see it on his reflection) on Sasuke's forehead was bestowed courtesy of finger pokes and a languid eye. The Sharingan, their clan's pride, was never used for this nor anything else, to further shame the lesser sibling.

The few times Sasuke let slip a dream or secret plan, Itachi would either do it first and perfectly, set Sasuke up for public humiliation, or would simply tell everyone. Those Life Lessons taught Sasuke to keep everything close to the vest.

Though Itachi had initially upstaged his younger brother in jest, it wasn't long before the pressures from the Village, ANBU and his own clan turned this benign activity into a release valve. It didn't take much for fraternity to morph into abuse.

Sasuke not privy to these deeper motivations. So for him, the absolutely worst treatment, second only to the Massacre, was the one time Itachi went into the village with Sasuke. Sasuke, being the unplanned backup heir, was not allowed outside the clan compound walls without a trusted adult. Since the thirteen-year-old Itachi was not only a shinobi but also ANBU, he became Sasuke's de-facto guardian and escort once past the clan walls.

Itachi, for the incident in question, being normally the epitome of grace, precision and poise, somehow lost all coordination - staggering and clumsy - and ended up knocking Sasuke into poles, pushed into carts, dropped into puddles and sent careening backwards into female public baths. After several hours of being terrorized, Itachi then knocked him face first in the dirt at a park near the Yamanaka Flower Shop in the center of a particular group of girls around Sasuke's age.

Every one of them were somehow wearing shirts with Sasuke's face on the front and his Uchiha Fan boxer-clad butt on the back. And then, _then_ honored brother Itachi had drawled out, "So you must be Ino-chan. Sasuke-chan talks of you often in his sleep."

Two days later, the Shinobi Academy started.

A month later, Uchiha Itachi carved his way into forensic history with the near complete extermination of the Uchiha Clan, including non-Uchiha workers, retainers, field hands and visitors with a serrated grapefruit spoon. The only person who was inside the compound walls when it began who lived was Itachi himself.

Itachi, graduating after a single year of the Academy at age six, becoming ANBU captain at 13 after two years in that department, became the poster child against pre-teen graduation, given the sheer brutality when his pressure cooker mind, from clan, village and work, compromised his fail-safes and gaskets. Orochimaru was also touted as an example, Genin at 6, which shifted the graduation age from 6 to 13 through 16. Itachi's genius, lauded back then, was either twisted or ignored in this current state of affairs. As well, this was a period of relative peace between the various countries, so there was little need for child soldiers to fill support roles.

The only other survivor was Sasuke, who was very late getting home. He had been chased by his Official Fan Club, the members clamoring for him to sign the Sasuke shirts they wore while they were still wearing them, when he crossed paths with two other Official Fan Clubs at a market crossroads. During the resulting brouhaha, he had almost made his escape when all the females present decided to set aside their differences, temporarily, for the common good: Sasuke's shirt and possibly pants...dibs on the Uchiha Fan boxers.

In the days and weeks which followed, he and they collectively thought that his Combined Fan Club had saved his life. In reality, Itachi had been waiting for several hours for Sasuke to show up, not to kill him, but to condition him for later. He needed Sasuke to activate his Sharingan, evolve it, and then come for him. The emotions behind Sasuke's eventual vengeance-fueled confrontation were important and took careful planning, even at this early phase.

So as their parents slowly cooled in their bedroom suite, he enjoyed a medium-rare strip of prime imported Grass Country beef with garlic stuffed mushrooms and a saucer of vintage, extremely rare, Whirlpool sake. Whirlpool was lost to a combination of natural disasters and multiple concurrent invasions. The former capital, resting close to half a mile off the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, was under two hundred feet of water and fifty feet of volcanic slag. It was good sake.

Once Sasuke arrived, Itachi promptly placed him in a Sharingan-based illusion. In this illusion, Sasuke got to watch Itachi kill everyone in slow motion about fifty times in a row, complete with sound and tactile emphasis. It was then repeated, only with Sasuke taking Itachi's place. The next variant had everyone wearing their mother's face while Sasuke and Itachi slid their spoons through every single orbital socket.

Outside of the illusion, while a shirtless Sasuke soiled himself and whimpered, Itachi careful constructed a series of hypnotic suggestions, commands and activation keywords. He needed Sasuke to be cold, bitter and arrogant, scorning everyone. For the proper emotional stew, it was crucial for Sasuke to internalize everything and never ever vent. He was unaware of just how much Sasuke both loved and loathed him, thinking instead he was merely disliked temporarily. This was Itachi's hubris, not to mention the family who had witnessed it all and said nothing aside from praises towards the Eldest Son.

When Itachi was finished, he activated the first keyword phrase with special emphasis on 'foolish,' 'hate,' and 'unsightly.' Then he picked up his packed bags, went outside to set the timed flare (so someone would find Sasuke before he starved to death or dehydrated from drooling), and quietly slipped away. Now he need only wait until Sasuke was evolved enough to replace his own failing eyes.

In the months afterwards, Sasuke became quiet, cool and cold. He was dark and brooding, somber and mysterious and it drove his fan club crazy. Ironically, it was the self-appointed leaders and rivals Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, along with their squeals and skinship, which planted the seeds of his eventual misogyny. In later years when he would mention his need to rebuild the Uchiha clan, he spoke not in the context of multiple wives nor of the Clan Restoration Act; instead, it was of breeders, little more than chattel, their worth measured in heirs.

A further cause of his personality shift and deterioration was insomnia from nightmares and a growing dependency on sleeping pills. Given the emotional roller coaster and his instant celebrity, even at age six he had no problems with legally acquiring prescription sleep aids and muscle relaxants. The village's hero worship stemming from his personal tragedy did precious little to actually help him, eventually causing almost as much harm as was done by Itachi, with proportional resentment and rage.

He was smart, talented, and while in class, usually drugged. When given verbal exams, even glazed over he could give correct and succinct answers. He would never volunteer any extra information beyond which to correctly answer the question. For written tests, however, he wouldn't even sign his name. He would just sneer, flip the paper over and brood over steepled fingers. He and the teachers both knew that his test paper would be switched with another's and he could never summon the energy to care, at least not at the beginning.

It was through the tests, however, that he discovered his rival and probably the best route towards evolving his Sharingan, once he could activate it. That part was very difficult without other Uchihas to coach and give advice.

Back to the written tests, he would almost always receive back a completed exam, written in the hand of someone who had obviously taught themselves how to read and write. A few months later, he learned to whom the style belonged when a proctor failed to erase the original's name completely prior to adding Sasuke's own from a rubber stamp: Uzumaki Naruto. Out of a rare bout of academic curiosity, he wandered over to Naruto's assigned seat, near the back of the class, and flipped over his returned test during a classroom break.

Naruto's name had been sloppily added, with points deducted for failure to comply with proctor instructions that every test paper be signed. Sasuke smirked at the negative score, flipped the paper back over, and then saw the tiny little doodle of the Uchiha fan in the lower left corner. This was his test, turned in blank. To test his emerging theory, he began discreetly marking his blank tests and noted an almost 95% exchange rate between him and Naruto. The remaining percentage were those times when Naruto sent outside of class during tests, so it was up to the lazy Nara and dense Inuzuka to cover those.

Whereas Sasuke answered nothing, Naruto answered everything, even advanced questions which were never covered in class, on tests that Sasuke had never seen before (later he would learn those were Advanced Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exams). The real kicker was that where Naruto got deducted for not signing his name, as well as for not answering questions, Sasuke got extra credit and bonus points for having correctly answered mid-Chuunin grade questions. He was even praised verbally in class with some talk of 'rapid advancement' and 'skipping ranks,' but most often 'as befitting an Uchiha.'

It was amazing. Here was a sloppy, impoverished, skinny and slightly pungent blond orphan in wildfire orange who was routinely removed from class during important lessons. That was after the boy had numerous accidents during the very first week which left him without any educational material. Despite all that, he was blowing the curve on every single written test. This trend continued for most of the first year, but abruptly stopped towards the end of the term.

As far as practical skills went, Sasuke was unchallenged when it came to shuriken or kunai marksmanship with stationary targets, thanks to his elder brother's toothpicks. Then he saw Naruto whisper to that Nara kid, who woke up enough to drawl out, "How often will our opponents be stationary?"

The next day, weapon skills were practiced on fast and slow moving targets arranged on pulleys and wires at varying distances, as well as pneumatic pop-up dummies at various ranges. Uzumaki was untouchable, even when the operators tried to make him miss by bouncing and swaying the wire hung targets. His weapons were either dead center, every time, or in designated lethal target boxes, with almost perfect conservation of motion and energy with zero chakra usage.

Uzumaki dominated that training session, and even gave others pointers on angles, trajectories, lead-in visual tracking, and the importance of mathematics. It was surreal and unique, in that it happened only once. The next day found the practice range back to stationary targets, Uzumaki was absent, and he wasn't seen again until the beginning of the second year five weeks later.

If anything, he was even louder and more idiotic upon his return, but something had changed: Sasuke never received one of Naruto's relabeled tests again. When he had checked the Idiot's paper, he found that Naruto, instead of answering the questions, had opted to create paneled cartoons of him stealing the Hokage hat along with Hokage-sama's pipe, converting it to blow bubbles instead of tobacco smoke, and then signing in victory while Hokage-sama wept anime-rivers in the background. It was in a 4-koma format.

He didn't even attempt to answer anything, only deigning to scrawl his name as crudely and large as possible in the designated spot, complete with chibi-fied personifications of him eating ramen, waving vulgar expressions towards the reader. He cut class, he slept during lessons, threw every sparring match, and could be seen aiming every where _but_ the targets during weapon drills.

Through discreet observation, Naruto seemed to avoid even more strenuously Haruno Sakura. Whenever possible though, she would corner him and loudly proclaim that she would never go on a date with him, replete with physical blows. Towards the middle of the second year, someone had the bright idea to partner Uzumaki and Haruno when they split into two-person study groups. Though he had heard the term 'rictus of terror,' he had never personally seen it until group announcements were made.

Regardless, Sasuke knew Naruto was faking his skills and intelligence. He knew that much from the prior year, and you just don't lose skills like that overnight. Something had happened to the kid, and for Sasuke's dream of restoring honor to his fallen clan and avenging his parent's murder, he would need Naruto to survive. Sasuke knew that with a rival of Naruto's caliber, it would be a breeze to evolve his Sharingan so he could kill Itachi.

Something he kept close to the vest was the manga Naruto-sensei would create on the back of his tests. In short, he was a fan, though he was very disappointed upon graduation, as that meant an end to the series, until it picked up again when they were required to submit mission report closure paperwork.

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Of the many things Uzumaki Naruto was, an idiot was not one of them. He was actually very intelligent, and would have enjoyed a certain level of sly craftiness even without the vulpine mental addition. He just played the part of the village idiot out of survival-borne necessity, especially following the one time they had moving targets during weapon drills. All the while, despite not having Academy texts, his evolved henge, coupled with cosmetic tips and samples from female empowerment magazines, allowed him access to the varied libraries where knowledge was there for the taking, so long as he was a she.

Uchiha Sasuke's Fan Club had somehow found him and had beaten him senseless for 'insulting Sasuke-kun' or something similar. It was all news to him: he had only spoken to the brooding Uchiha once. After the insulting response and the subsequent beating for 'disrespecting Sasuke-kun,' he never tried again. It didn't stop the classroom and break-time violence however: he was not the only one conditioned. But this beating was different.

He felt all but one chakra signature leave, the one remaining rather small and almost easy to miss. The owner of that signature dragged his unconscious body somewhere, he still doesn't know where, and slapped him awake. When he awoke he saw Haruno Sakura sitting in a wooden chair off to the side of where he was rather securely bound.

She had with her writing supplies, a journal, a stopwatch, and a stout piece of blood-splattered lumber. She had needed a few practice sessions with those who would not be missed, simply to be conditioned for bloodshed, so she would not show weakness before this bound boy from her gorge rising.

Sakura had simply said one thing, "You did something to make my mother cry and you will tell me what that something was."

Then she started to beat him and cut him and time how long it took for wounds to heal and bones to mend, all while taking careful notes in a clinically detached manner regarding stages of healing and any oddities. Her mother, months back, had provided a hospital log at great personal expense which had touched upon possible expectations. Her actions really didn't bother her at all: it was the fluids which gave her issues, mitigated through breathing techniques. She had long been acclimated towards dispensing violence towards this one.

The hissing sound and apparent steam which came from his skin flaps pulling together and closing, without even the slightest scar or blemish, were of particular interest. The interesting color display as deep bruises from ruptured bone capillaries would quickly shift from that deepest black and green all the way up to his normal tanned tone coincided with medical primers. In those, however, the color shift took weeks; here, it was measured in minutes.

This continued for three days, and whenever he awoke from the latest torture session, Sakura would appear as if summoned with her coldly calculating eyes, pick up the bloodied bludgeon, and resume where she had left off.

In his delusional state, he wondered when she was going to start cutting off things, and was muzzily curious if anything cut off could be reattached or regrown. It was during this time that she adopted her habit of wearing blood red dresses over black shorts; certain fluids would blend in and it was easier to clean. Towards the end of the third day, though dehydrated and starved, he was finally conscious and clear minded enough. The skull fractures and brain swelling having already healed, he was able to focus and use the Body Switch with her empty chair to finally escape that horrid room.

It was her own basement, with Mebuki often watching from the doorway as she masturbated. They had to sleep sometime, so hours after Sakura left for bed and the doorframe was absent of her mother, he made his escape.

He hid in the surrounding woods, rationalizing the scenery change as practical woodland survival skills and lived off the land until the end of the term. He was banking on the fact that Sakura had demonstrated sub-standard practical skills and would not find him; in this he was correct. He was also hoping against hope that Sakura or himself would be placed in another class once the Academy resumed. It was not to meant to be, as classes tended to stick together with rotating instructors.

On certain thought levels, he didn't blame her at all, though her detached manner through it all seriously unnerved him. Most of him came to hate and fear the little banshee, but there was that small part of him which defended her actions. He knew what he was, having figured it out from epithets spat upon him during beatings, or shouted at him as he walked or ran through the streets and alleys.

He knew he was the jailer of the dreaded Lord of all Demons, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, the Living Embodiment of Fire. Several years later when the traitor Mizuki revealed this village secret, Naruto wasn't shocked from the knowledge (he had known for years) but from actually hearing it out of someone else's mouth. It was one thing to think of oneself as part demon, but quite another to actually be called the Kyuubi reborn; it wasn't something he would ever get used to hearing.

But he knew he was the Kyuubi's jailer, vessel, container, whatever. He knew this, but he also knew that since the fox was inside him, part of him was the fox, or at least influenced by it, which did make him the fox, kinda sorta possibly. This made him at least partially responsible for the sins of the fox. It was complicated, but the best he could come up with at the moment. He was only seven, after all, and had been conditioned since birth to forgive and accept.

So, being partially responsible for the fox's crimes, Naruto tried very hard not to hold any of the villagers' actions or words against them. He hated the fox too, it having robbed him of parents, friends, acceptance and love. The closest thing he ever had to physical affection was a drunken hug from a villager which changed into a spirited attempt to compress and snap Naruto's spine once the villager realized who/what he held.

Besides, he reasoned that if he and the fox shared the same body, that meant the fox would feel anything done to Naruto. That didn't mean Naruto was suicidal or a cutter or anything. He figured he got enough of that crap from the outside without feeling the need to add more personally.

Despite everything thrown at him though, Naruto was a fairly content survivor. One would think he would be cynical, sour and completely jaded, but that couldn't be further from reality. He actually tried to see the best in people and figured things could always be worse. He was an optimist through and through, and a bona-fide people person, though not quite the hyperkinetic ball of living sunshine he used as his outer personae.

Still, try as he might, he really couldn't blame people for, well, being people, especially hurt and grieving people needing an outlet for their raw emotions. He didn't necessarily like or enjoy his treatment at their hands, but knew cathartic release when he saw it. It was needed for them to heal. He had the fox for his wounds, at least the non-emotional ones. For everything else, the fox (and Naruto by proxy) most likely deserved it.

What he didn't know was that Sakura, thanks to sharing her stories, reports and notes with her mother, who in turn shared them with select councilors, had begun rudimentary medical training after the first year. Due to Naruto's advanced healing and regenerative capabilities, he was the perfect test subject for the budding medic. Though their relationship would never really improve, her treatment of him did moderately as they never had a repeat of anything as brutal as that first clinical basement experience. Anything over that could be called an improvement.

By the time Team Selections came around, her view on Naruto had risen, slightly. Fishcake, as she called him, was used as more of a title than a name. She felt he had yet to earn the privilege of even _being_ named. As far as she was concerned, Fishcake started life as an object.

He was a scavenger, then a punching bag, then a medical dummy. He was a _thing_. Over time, he graduated to animal since things are incapable of thought and learning. It is rather difficult to get a conditioned response from a potted plant or a chunk of coal.

An _animal_ , however, could be trained, and she had one which was self-healing. Despite her ministrations, methods or experiments, she never did get a satisfactory answer for how Naruto was connected with her mother's grief. However, her observations of Naruto and clinical notes, before and after Team Seven's formation, would form the groundwork for the Council Elders' ultimate plan for the Fourth's Legacy.

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Had Sarutobi Hiruzen known of how his conditioning of an infantile Naruto would have turned out, this Messiah Complex, this acceptance of torture, this degree of masochism and self blame, self-hatred, he would have flipped.

The Naruto he would have in his office on a monthly basis, for conditioning and general questions, though Naruto might talk a lot, he actually said precious little. Sarutobi had missed the nuances, being too intent on Naruto not turning the Village which despised him into a crater. When it came to Naruto's words, he had become ear-blind, caring far more for his village than the one who kept it from Kyuubi's gorge.

Had he still been alive, he would have killed himself after purging Konoha on how his twisting of a child's mind to not seek vengeance had led directly to Naruto's current circumstances. The blaming of self, the forgiveness no matter how harshly treated, the feelings of deserving all the hate, all of this had been through Sarutobi's conditioning of the boy from birth and even throughout the Academy years, and how the boy had incorporated those lessons.


	2. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi.

A memory came to him. That was really all he had now, memories. He had been sealed and imprisoned for an indeterminate time for something he was rather certain he deserved. Yet despite his most heinous crimes, far too many to obviously list individually, he was still allowed to serve his beloved village. That thought made his thin face glow momentarily, that even one such as he could have a purpose.

This was what he truly believed, thanks again to Sarutobi's conditioning.

The memory was of a shrill pink haired banshee, a dark and moody spoiled princeling, and a one-eyed perverted scarecrow. It was almost like the main cast of a dark parody involving yellow brick roads and winged saru-oji-sans. _'Heh, flying monkey uncles, the Old Man would've gotten a chuckle out of that were he still alive.'_

He didn't hear much of anything about current events, or anything recent really, but he did know the Old Man was dead. He had placed a flower by his picture in the rain, surrounded by other nins, but kept distinctly apart. This he knew to be true.

Soon afterwards, however, the consequences of Naruto's wicked thoughts and life would be made known to the boy.

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He and Jiraiya had been sent by the Council Elders to find and return Tsunade, the Slug Princess, to take up the position as the Fifth Hokage. After about a month of traveling from one gambling town to another, seemingly filled to the brim with brothels and escort agencies, they chanced upon the buxom blonde and her dark haired assistant the one time Jiraiya opted to eat first and whore later. That encounter led to a pitched Sannin battle a week later between the three former teammates.

Though extremely outclassed, he fought alongside Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune, protecting them, lending tactical support and finally directly assaulting the traitor Kabuto when he went to kill Tsunade in her hemophobic stupor. Kabuto and Orochimaru made their escape but not before the Snake Master snagged him in that super long freaky tongue, hit him with a paralyzing snake bite, and dragged him underground.

Jiraiya and company couldn't give chase due to Shizune's and Tsunade's injuries, not to mention Jiraiya still suffering from the drugged drink his former teammate slipped him the night prior. Given that Tsunade was a master at her craft, it was a rather potent drink. From what Naruto understood much later, the group recuperated long enough to get on the road to Konoha and from there would mount a search and rescue operation for him.

His retrieval had been superseded, however, by the broody princeling being willingly kidnapped, and since the Uchiha's blood had a higher priority than a Demon-brat's life, resources were allocated towards Uchiha's recovery mission.

Meanwhile, Naruto found himself quickly trundled back to Sound for testing. Orochimaru, having run into the Kyuubi vessel far too many times and witnessing that destructive power, wanted to harvest some of it, if not for himself, then for his troops. Let Cloud dream of Hyuuga eyes; Sound would be Kyuubi-fied!

Then they went and underestimated him. Naruto was only a Genin, after all, and by all official accounts, a rather poor one at that. Even that was a bit too charitable. Conversely, there was Orochimaru, Kabuto and pretty much everyone else in this village.

Naruto's official team role, of which Naruto was aware, was to safeguard the rest of the team, especially the Uchiha, serve as a distraction during tactical retreats, sacrifice himself for the well-being of the team, and to assist Sasuke and Sakura in improving their skills.

Regarding Hatake, being Minato's apprentice, Naruto had long been conditioned to accept the man and follow any order. He had been selected as Naruto's teacher before the boy was even officially entered into the Academy, despite Kakashi's near-constant absence from the village from a string of missions, willingly sought.

Back with Orochimaru, Naruto's phenomenal healing and regenerative factor, once verified, would make anyone drool. He was practically immortal and stupendously under skilled, the perfect specimen. The was the official line on one Uzumaki Naruto.

They were unaware of the multiple file boxes filled to overflow with Naruto's prankster exploits prior to his Academy graduation, filed under Special Circumstances. Some people had single, thin folders. Others might have a thick folder, drawer or maybe even a shelf.

Naruto had boxes stuffed with thick folders, filled with reports, for every week of eight years just on his pranks, traps, and basic hooliganisms.

So, going off the mission reports and weekly team briefings involving Naruto's meager contribution, a rather bleak picture was painted. Following this, Kabuto, in his condescending way, belittled and humiliated Naruto while strapping him to a worktable. The moment Kabuto took his eyes off of Naruto, a sequence of events played out which no one would have expected.

Kabuto, being responsible for restraining Naruto, quite failed to seal off the boy's considerable chakra. Aside from his hobby of information gathering and chakra based cards, of which he had bragged upon at the most recent Chuunin Selection Examination, he really should have known better.

So one Body Switch and Kabuto found himself face down on the worktable, strapped over-securely in place. The straps were for Naruto's size, not his, and were very strong, sufficient to contain an angry and underfed teenager. Kabuto held no faith in the stories circulated around Konoha regarding the boy, stemming from his own hubris at information gathering, and general disdain for Konoha authority figures.

He was a refugee from a Konoha-fueled war, so what would he care? Aside from all that, his card on Naruto told of an ignorant buffoon who could barely access his personal core. This would be his undoing.

Naruto, eyeing the various liquid-filled jars of human and animals parts, had already reached a conclusion on his fate. This level of stress sharpened the mind like nothing else, and a clone popped into being silently.

The next thing was a pop of air displacement and the almost silent sizzling of friction heated air. Naruto didn't even bother calling out the technique's name. He just drilled a very tightly and well-formed Rasengan into the back of Kabuto's skull while his clone combined a smaller version combined with Konoha's secret Taijutsu: Thousand Years of Pain kancho.

The results were rather impressive, and overall took mere seconds.

Naruto, conditioned as he was, vomited upon his first kill and floundered about. This led to him staggering backwards, bumping into a shelf filled with bottles, and like dominoes - tic tic tic - shelf after shelf of bottles and canisters holding fluids and animal parts shattered around the room.

Some rather virulent acids found Kabuto's tethered remains on the overturned gurney. In the toxic confusion, Naruto made his escape with the help of clones, his special Transformation and another well-timed Switch with a Sound squad just before they left out on patrol.

It would take almost ten hours before Orochimaru learned of Kabuto's fate, when said assistant failed to arrive for Orochimaru's twice-daily bandage replacements. Given that his body hopping used cadavers, this was essential to stave off naturally occurring decay and the resulting stench. Even Orochimaru had his pride regarding hygiene.

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Naruto wasn't sure who was the more surprised, himself or his brooding teammate. Here he was, leaving Sound for Konoha, and there was Sasuke, leaving Konoha for Sound. Thinking that maybe his teammate got lost, and knowing his own role within Team Hatake, he volunteered to escort Sasuke back to Konoha.

Some time later, he decided that Sasuke might not be all there, that the spiral hickey which gave Sasuke gray skin, big white hair, yellow eyes and two large hand-wings. It was probably also interfering with his mind and normal good sense. After all, Sasuke was a genius which meant he had above average thinking skills, better than himself at any rate.

So Naruto surmised that Sasuke was possessed, in a way, and needed help or an exorcism. This led to Naruto getting most of his right lung temporarily removed as a gray clawed hand punched through his chest, chirping madly. His conditioning briefly failed.

Uchiha Sasuke was rather surprised to be on the receiving end of violence, as this was the first time in years, Haku notwithstanding, where he had actually felt physical pain. Bones were broken, with both of his...he wasn't even sure what those things were which sprouted from his shoulder blades. Those things, wings, whatever they were, those too were ripped from his body, along with most of his overgrown hair.

This led to his recrossing the Valley of the End, where things for both teens went weird quickly. Sasuke, in particular, was a bit conflicted in that part of him which retained any sense of sanity. He punched his arm through another person, was _curbstomped_ by that person, and this person was his favorite mangaka. Instead of getting an autograph, Sasuke had obviously demanded more, since there was still clammy organ tissue on his hands and under his nails.

For Naruto, things made even less sense. Hatake was there for starters and before Naruto was knocked unconscious, he heard his negligent sensei say something about missing-nin and attacking a Konoha shinobi. This was one of the few times Naruto had been addressed directly by his sensei, stunned enough by the sensation for Kakashi to seal off the boy's chakra with multiple paper ofudas.

Unlike Kabuto, Kakashi was very much aware that Kyuubi wore his Sensei's son's skin like a coat, and needed to be leashed. Given that he held the Ninken Contract, stolen from Clan Inuzuka, he knew all about disciplining unruly mutts.

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The subsequent trial was amazingly efficient and speedy, a first for Konoha's bloated bureaucracy. As well, the recently instated Hokage, and her assistant Shizune, were absent, having gone to a treaty finalization with Sand on the Fire/Wind border.

In her place, seated between Horuma and Koharu, Sarutobi's former teammates and Council Elders, was none other than Haruno Sakura. Again, knowing his role to strengthen his teammates, Naruto had talked her up, eventually winning over a reluctant Tsunade into accepting a second apprentice.

Being the new apprentice to the Slug Princess, rules regarding the Hokage's representative allowed her to sit in their place should the Hokage be absent when it came to shinobi-related criminal proceedings.

Since it was a shinobi-related criminal proceeding, no civilian council members were present. Allegedly, due to the sensitivity of the proceedings, even military department heads and clan leaders were absent. Only the two Elder Councilors and the Hokage's representative were in attendance. This was officially documented and signed off upon by the Elders and Hokage proxy.

His charges were extensive: desertion, dereliction of duty, insubordination, deadly assault on a Konoha shinobi, lethal interference with a search and rescue mission and gross negligence. Naruto, drugged enough to even incapacitate Kurama, watched all of this in a detached manner, which was interpreted as arrogant by all involved.

His punishment was quickly handed down and executed. Sakura, also swept up in this, went along with the Elders, though even she was shocked by the outcome. Naruto was to be decommissioned from the armed services, sealed, physically restrained in solitary confiement, and was given a life sentence.

Some strictures would be lessened, a bit, if Naruto cooperated peaceably, to which Naruto gave his trademarked Idiot Grin and nodded. He wasn't really capable of anything else. Knowing that most of his charges were punishable by death, Naruto figured he had gotten off lightly. He didn't know just how his sealed away medical records also sealed his fate.

He was quickly removed from society, and while many were overjoyed that he was no longer around the village, some noticed that he was absent. Some would miss him, thinking him merely gone, while others thought him dead and mourned the loss. More thought him dead and welcomed the news.

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When he next became aware and lucid, it was dark and he was restrained. He could feel that he was hooded, his arms and legs were spread and strapped to a rather comfortable surface, he was upright, and his hands were spread open, palm up with each finger held securely in place. Further self awareness revealed something taped to his left arm with tubes and his jaw secured, preventing normal speech. And then there was his chakra.

He could feel it, but couldn't access it. Since he was restrained and obviously couldn't move about like he normally did, which was akin to a caffiene-corn syrup-death by chocolate energy high in a three year old, his chakra had no way to be used. It wasn't sealed off, simply unable to be used.

So it stayed inside, swirling around and containing his slumbering personal demon even better. As well, it leaked from out of his pores, creating what would have been a vibrant blue haze had he not been hooded and could see his surroundings. He could feel it though, this overflow, but that was it.

Deprived of sight, at least for the moment, he focused on his other senses and quickly became aware of something. Aside from his current situation, there was no hint of the Fox. Sure, he could sense the spiritual form behind the cage, but couldn't sense anything coming from that form, all that anger and rage.

It was as if the great Kyuubi no Kitsune was asleep or comatose. He could still feel the Kitsune's chakra being processed and purified by his seal; even in this state, he was still absorbing the Kyuubi's power. Even while his personal pool increased, there was still no way to call upon nor use it.

It was almost like an aquarium: a clear wall separated him from what was contained. He could still see the fish and water, but couldn't touch it through the glass. So it was with his chakra.

Also, it was very quiet. The only sounds, even if he concentrated on hearing, was from his own body, the very slight rustlings and creaks from whatever he was on, and the very faint buzzing around him.

Anyhow, he figured this was better than he deserved. Despite the assurances of Old Man Hokage and Iruka, Naruto always felt some modicum of guilt and self-loathing, notwithstanding Mizuki's betrayal. Throughout his young life he had been constantly reminded of what the Fox did, so once he learned the Fox was sealed in him, that made the Fox part of him and thereby he was partly responsible for the Fox's actions, especially when another spoke the very things he believed.

Naruto couldn't quite remember the court proceedings or even what happened when he met his former sensei while carrying a battered and hogtied teammate. But he figured he would not be in this situation without a very good reason, and since he was in this situation, it must've been for a very good reason and thereby, deserved.

Throughout all of this, Sarutobi's conditioning held firmly, never fully knowing the consequences of Naruto's psyche he had created. Though months dead, his control lingered.

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Naruto tried to keep track of days at first, but that proved to be rather difficult. The intervals were simply too random, as he was unaware of policies meant to break a person. Whatever he was strapped upon, the positioning would change abruptly, at times having him head down on a verticle plane while sleeping. Even then, the surface was rather comfortable.

Then there was 'bath by jutsu' as he was hosed down by water techniques, stringently. This was how he discovered his other unit of clothing aside from his head and eye wrap: a modesty panel. In the beginning, he had been completely stripped, so this addition meant a mixed gender rotation.

These too had no rhythm, nor was he fed, the tubes taped to his arm supplying his basal needs. Due to his self-taught education, he surmised that his varied positions was to prevent edema and blood clotting. Having a life term, it would not do to have him perish via embolism. Those were his thoughts, despite being highly curious on where he was kept. He had visited Kuni's shinobi prison before, as part of a mission, but this place didn't smell the same. It was cleaner, for starters

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It had been some time since those discoveries, and during one of his later baths he felt his own hair plastered to his collarbones from under his hood. So he hazarded the guess that he had been imprisoned for roughly six to eight months, maybe a year, since his hair had been rather short and spiky prior to his trial.

It was around the time that his hair was down to his waist that he had official visitors. He wasn't even aware of them until someone slapped him awake. Though a part of him noted the air displacement from a door opening and forms entering, he had long since acclimated to this comfortable surface, even sleeping through errant baths. They were to the first to actually come inside this place, wherever this was.

"Inmate C-258-B3, the Honorable Councilors Horuma-sama and Koharu-sama are here to evaluate your conditions."

At his nod, someone cleared their throat and spoke in what he guessed was a 'grandmotherly' tone, sweet and wheedling geriatric.

"Uzumaki-san, if you agree to our offerings you will be rewarded with a few freedoms and liberties. We have been duly notified of your exemplary behavior during your incarceration."

He shot his head up at the beginning. The last time anyone had said his name, his actual name instead of his prisoner file, or some derogatory Academy epithet, was right before he killed Kabuto. Not that anyone knew, cared or would even believe it, Orochimaru had last spoken his actual name. So it did come as a shock to hear his name politely, if cordially, spoken.

"Despite your sins against society, for which you are being punished, there are some on the Council who feel you could still be of service to Konoha, and after some deliberation, we agree. What we are offering should correctly be seen as an honor, especially to one in your position. But we will not force this upon you. The choice is yours: will you serve Konoha and be rewarded, or will you remain sealed from the world with only your limited senses and memories for company?"

Naruto tilted his head and thought briefly, then nodded. His hood covered and restrained his jaw, and it had been quite some time since he ever attempted any semblance of speech. His 'Power of Friendship' had been noted,  truly a fearsome technique, so means were enacted to prevent his subversion of the guards.

"We are pleased you agree. You will be providing your genetic material for the betterment of Konoha's shinobi. Your records indicate a naturally occurring large and dense chakra pool along with an incredibly high stamina. Your tenant has contributed to your charka stores as well as accelerated healing and regenerative properties. Given that this has been going on almost the entirely of your life, we feel confident that these qualities have been imprinted on your DNA and are inheritable.

"This could prove highly beneficial to our village, as any offspring would more than likely exhibit these same traits. It is a true shame all that happened, as these traits could have been a proven bloodline and your place cemented in society as a new clan head. Thankfully, my fellow Honorable Councilor and I were able to convince the rest of the Shinobi Panel to spare you from execution in light of what you could still provide to the village. Given the magnitude of your offenses, that was not an easy task."

Their version of his court proceedings was a blatant lie, but was believed all the same, given the time interval and his conditioning. In truth, the methods used to break a person using isolation and timed intervals was wasted on him, given his tenant and own imagination. Had they known of Sarutobi's methods used on the boy, they would have acted sooner. As it was, they believed that other ways were needed to secure the boy's agreement.

Naruto, though, was stunned. He might have an actual bloodline? He could have started a clan, his very own family, that very thing he most desired! He would be accorded a council seat as a clan head and be that much closer to his aborted dream of Hokage. What he possessed was needed, wanted and desired by the village that shunned him. And he just had to muck all that up, throw away his options, choices and life.

He still wasn't quite sure what it was he did, but figured to have all those enviable genetic qualities and _still_ needing the Elder Councilors to change his punishment from death to imprisonment, whatever he had done must've have been incredibly stupid and deadly serious. He was very thankful the Old Man wasn't alive to be shamed by the complete and utter mess Naruto has made of his life, even after all the doors which had been opened for him.

He had a suspicion that Kyuubi had something to do with it. Fuzzy must've taken control temporarily, raised hell, then left leaving Naruto holding the bag. It was typical really, just like on the bridge during that Wave mission. In truth, Kakashi had been frightened to the point, by that display, to leave the skinsuit be. He wasn't being paid nearly enough to deal with two brats, a drunkard and his family, and a skinsuit to boot.

Koharu's voice broke him from his musings. "In return for your donations, your hood will be removed and you will be allowed physical meals, personal grooming and limited mobility. With continued cooperation, other liberties may be included, such as educational materials, entertainment, literature and exercise equipment. If you really impress us, we may even be able to lesson your punishments sufficiently to allow you scrolls, writing materials, and limited access to your chakra.

"Keep in mind that all of this is up to you. I understand this is a lot to take in and is rather sudden. We both empathize with you. However, our hands are tied and we are limited in what we can offer. This is truly the best deal we can give you."

They watched Naruto careful, twisted smirks blossoming on their wrinkled faces as he nodded once more. It was best for the boy to be a willing donor, as that would set his intent. Such could drastically change the outcome, so it was best to start on a positive footing.

The freedoms were a lie, them banking on his youth, naivete, and general personality. They had to use words, as this room siphoned chakra, even to the point of shutting down any technique which required it.

As they left the very secure holding cell far below the Hokage Tower, granting access to their energy pools once again, they knew that soon they would have a military force to be reckoned with. They had spent the past year going through civilian personnel records and vetting prospective birth candidates. Those were further screened,  wanting a force loyal to the village, council and Hokage, in that order, with no ties to a clan or shinobi family to complicate priorities. The Elders considered themselves the village representatives.

Though the fruits of their labor might take a decade or two, in which they might perish from natural causes, the groundwork of their master plan would have been already laid out through their grandchildren. Also, once there were children with Naruto's blood in them, that would make bypassing Namikaze's blood seals that much easier.

Minato had crafted devious seals requiring not just the correct blood, but also genetic markers found in the chakra pool. Since they didn't really want to use Naruto himself, they would use a proxy to gain the last of the Fourth Hokage's estate, vault and holdings.

They had waited this long just for Naruto to physically age enough, and it was highly fortuitous that he was not only kidnapped by Orochimaru and escaped, but also that he captured the defecting Uchiha by force. Naruto handed them more than enough circumstances to twist just enough to make all this possible. Had Naruto arrived at the Sound/Fire border any later, he could've totally missed Sasuke.

Though their charges would have changed, him bringing back a very damaged Konoha shinobi and clan heir placed Kyuubi's container securely in their pocket.

It was a very good day to be an Elder Councilor. Had they known of Sarutobi's conditioning, it would have been much better.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N 1.1: Originally, this warped introduction to Team Seven had each member section as chapters, which were later combined into a single chapter.


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